Gram was special, and now that his dad was gone, Tyler was the only family she had left. Which was why he’d flown in a few days early, just to check out Marietta, and the people his grandmother had become so very attached to, namely Amanda Wright.

From Texas he’d done some research and what he’d learned about Amanda hadn’t been all that reassuring, either. She was a credit risk. Not even the Bank of Marietta would give her a loan to close on the little house on Second and Church Streets. But Gram would, and did. His grandmother was generous to a fault and from what he was hearing in Texas, he feared she was being taken advantage of. He wouldn’t be a very good grandson if he didn’t come to Marietta and do some additional investigative work. Gram deserved to be protected, and she knew what his plans were for her. It wasn’t as if he’d kept the Austin guesthouse a secret. He’d shared his plans with her from the beginning, and asked for her preferences in materials and layout. True, she hadn’t been very enthused, but he believed with time she’d not just get used to the idea, but excited. He hoped to have her moved, if not by this spring, then by the end of summer so she wouldn’t have to go through another harsh Montana winter on her own. It was just a matter of getting her to agree and then he’d handle all the moving arrangements.

And then he was there, at her little white house with the pale sage-green door. Her flowerboxes tucked beneath the tall windows flanking the front door were like little dollhouse flowerbeds with miniature conifers, ivy, and the fragrant paper-white. Lace curtains hung on the inside of the tall windows, concealing the interior. Little here seemed to change. Gram kept everything absolutely meticulous. He felt a tug of emotion as he knocked on the front door, thinking Gram had sometimes been the only constant in a world of change.

His parents struggled after Coby died, unable to grieve together, they’d grown apart, his dad always away, immersed in his work and his love of dangerous sports—skiing, mountain climbing, mountain biking—while his mother earned her real estate license and became one of the top Realtors in Los Gatos. Tyler hadn’t known how to grieve, either. He’d been the younger brother his whole life and now the big brother he’d looked up to, the brother who’d never made a misstep, the brother who’d made his parents so very proud, was gone.

Tyler couldn’t possibly fill Coby’s shoes, and so he hadn’t even tried. Instead he lost himself in his games, preferring the worlds he created over the real world filled with loss and pain.

Thank God for Gram. She might have lived halfway across the country but she was his rock, and his inspiration. She lived life with joy.

He knocked a second time, more firmly.

A lace panel lifted at one of the tall windows, and then moments later the front door flew. “Tyler!” His grandmother reached for him, patting his chest. “Look at you! What a surprise! I wasn’t expecting you until Friday!”

He grinned. “Hello, Gram.” He leaned over and gave her a firm hug and kiss on her soft, warm cheek. She was a little more slender, a little smaller, but still his beloved grandmother. “I arrived early.”

“My goodness. Isn’t this wonderful! Come in, come in. Are you hungry? Have you had lunch?”

“I just ate. I’ve checked into the Graff—”

“What? Why would you do that?”

“I’ve got some work to do while I’m here and until it’s wrapped up, I’m better at a hotel with a business office.”

His grandmother closed the front door and drew him down the hall and into her kitchen where she pulled out a chair for him to sit at her kitchen table.